Equestrian history, especially Polish, Eurasian and American horsemanship and its history - from Bronze Age to AD 1939. Historical equestrian art, my own artwork & reconstructions, and some traditional art media and digital artwork-related topics.
All my text and my own art etc - all rights reserved unless permitted by 'Dariusz caballeros' aka DarioTW

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Martorell's dextrarius opertus

Salve,
again back to the Middle Ages, the most splendid XV century..
this painter was active in the Kingdom of Aragon, more exactly in the County of Barcelona, under the name Martorell.
He painted his 'Saint George Killing the Dragon' circa AD 1427-30.

Knightly saint sits high on the horse's back, his saddle moved forward, but most likely its design (invisible here wooden bars) allows for such arrangement without injuring the horse's withers and shoulders. After all these dextrarius stallions were awfully expensive and costly. The stallion appears to have been shod

I would like to bring your attention to some details of this moving and beautiful masterpiece of the Medieval art. The horse - spirited and powerful dextrarius opertus is snowy white gray stallion, trained for war and joust.

the saddle skirt of impeccable white-dyed leather, with pommel and cantle black. The pommel is extended downwards to protect the thighs and knee.

amazingly elaborate bit - a double-reins gilded curb bit, with gilded chain connecting the shanks with lower rein (to prevent enemy from slashing the reins). also very elaborate adornment of the tack plainly visible to be admired

beautiful bridle, the forelock tied in the most ancient tradition

the high, rounded pommel - we see the way Aragonese knights might have adorned their saddles with studs

the rounded cantle to give support for the hips etc during the lance attack - we see here that the knight rode high in the saddle, almost standing, good position for lance play etc

enjoy
ps this piece of journalistic fraud and excrement comes from the Spanish leftist the New York Times-like daily el Pais - ergo, in January 2017 (70 years too late perhaps) Polish historians (IPN) finally released the list of the German employer's guards at the Auschwitz Concentration Camps Complex and since the guards are almost all German (they did not publish the Ukrainian guards list), gee! surprise!, then this Spanish writer (and his publishers and editors) complains that Poland is trying to rewrite[sic!] her history.
I mean, the cheek on this 'motherflower' and his editors and publishers... brushing away the KL Auschiwitz SS guard list and rapidly moving to the German occupied Poland's complicity (alleged and ascribed to some of the Polish citizens from within the pre-1939 borders) in the Holocaust, mostly by quoting the two most revisionist and fraudulent 'expat 'historians' Grabowski and Gross.
The Polish complicity with the Hitler's Germany was the Stalin invention, and after the war it was the West Germany Intelligence and Propaganda Services that adopted and expanded these Stalinist concepts, adding the false idea of the "Polish concentration camps.'
The American media and politicians have used this injurious and completely false term, including ex-president Barrack Hussein Obama. Shame on him and all of them.

About Me

Czołem/Salve, fellow net traveler... I am Dariusz aka Dario and this is my meydân. Born in the year of the Fire Horse hence I never tire of admiring, drawing & painting or sculpting horses, or just researching the history of equus cabalus, especially in the mounted warrior context. My drawings and paintings - prints - are available for sale (I use MyPaint, Krita & GIMP), I also do commissioned illustration etc, so if you need to contact me regarding a purchase, commission, or any other matter, do email me: darajawausz[at]gmail [dot] com
Ciao - Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas